What are AA batteries made of?
AA batteries take 10 things directly, among them manganese, carbon black, potassium hydroxide, water, steel and nickel. Trace them back and you pass 33 made things on the way to 21 raw materials.
How AA batteries are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 21 raw materials
- Water goes straight in
- Manganese ore through manganese
- Iron ore through manganese
- Natural gas through plastic
- Crude oil through carbon black
- Air through zinc
- Potash through potassium hydroxide
- Nickel ore through nickel
- Kaolin through paper
- Limestone through paper
- Zinc ore through zinc
- Coal through manganese, coke
- Sulfur through zinc, sulfuric acid
- Dolomite through steel, magnesium
- Timber through paper, wood pulp
- Copper ore through brass, copper
- Lead ore through brass, lead
- Tin ore through brass, tin
- Quartz through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Rock salt through paper, wood pulp, caustic soda
- Bauxite through brass, aluminum, alumina
Made along the way: 24 things
Metals 9
Chemicals and fuels 13
Sulfuric acidOxygen gasQuicklimeArgonNaphthaEthylenePropylenePropaneCaustic sodaHydrogen peroxidePetroleum cokeHydrogenCharcoal
Wood and paper 1
Electronics 1
What it is packed in
On the line, but left out of everything above, because it holds the finished thing rather than goes into it.